


Two

by sunspot (unavoidedcrisis)



Category: Horizon: Zero Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-06
Updated: 2020-02-13
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:14:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22591579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unavoidedcrisis/pseuds/sunspot
Summary: "Two braves who fell, two who rose again. There were two cries in the night, two broken Watchers at the mouth of the river.""Broken Watchers," Lansra says with a sneer. "Next you'll say there was an arrow that split the leaf of the wild ember before the dew had dried."Jezza cried out and covered her mouth in astonishment. "Yes, Sister, yes, an arrow. I saw the split leaves on a wild ember with my own eyes. We must anoint a second Seeker, the signs are all in line."
Relationships: Aloy/Vala (Horizon: Zero Dawn)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 56
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 5





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Serie11](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Serie11/gifts).



The pain tears through her, a searing, ripping feeling that’s worse than any injury she’s taken during training. Vala hits the ground to the sound of the others screaming in terror, of Aloy shouting, and the thudding of that bizarre weapon in the hands of the unknown enemy. She tries to push herself back up, hands sliding on the snow and blood. Her blood. She doesn’t remember much after that, until…

Varl’s wiping sweat from her brow when she comes to, which is unusual for many reasons. The darkened room smells and feels familiar, so she knows she’s home, but her brother’s never been one to pay her much attention. There’s muffled noise from outside, the clattering of hammers and heavy footfalls, people moving fast with heavy loads. There are voices, maybe some far off singing, but no laughter. That's also unusual. Something is very wrong.

“Varl?” she manages to choke out around her dry, heavy tongue.

He drops the cloth and takes up her hand in both of his. “You’re awake,” he says. His actions, his tone… He’s shocked, relieved, his voice is rough like he’s not been taking care of himself. She’s awake, he says. That must mean that most others are not.

“Everyone else?”

“Some alive. Not many, but some.”

“Bast?”

“Dead.”

“Aloy?”

“I’m not sure. She was alive when they… The High Matriarchs thought she would die. I haven’t heard since then.” He lets go of her hand and rises to cross the other side of the room.

“When they what?”

“Took her inside All-Mother Mountain.”

“...Wow.”

Varl returns to her with a cup of something hot and sharp-smelling. “The others who survived say she’s the reason they did. Well, the two of you.”

“And Bast. He was brave,” Vala says. She struggles to sit up and take the cup from her. Her chest aches with the exertion of trying to breathe. The first sip from the cup burns all the way down, but she breathes easier right away. The second sip isn’t as bad.

Varl lights a torch on the far side of the room, not bright enough to blind her, but enough so that she can see. She looks down at her hands – bruised and scraped, looking about as bad as they feel. She balances the cup between her knees, letting the warmth ease the strain in her muscles while she flexes her hands.

Satisfied they’ll work well enough once they’ve healed a bit more, she looks around. Vala knows instantly that besides them, the house is empty. Her mother’s bow is gone and the oiled leather sack she carries while out hunting is missing from its peg by the door. “Where’s Sona?”

“The killers Aloy didn’t finish took off through the Sacred Lands. She took a war party after them.” He returns again to her bedside and sits on the low stool so she doesn’t have to crane her head around to follow him.

“You didn’t go too?” It’s exactly the kind of mission both of them would scramble to be a part of. She can’t believe he wouldn’t have fought a hundred other Braves to go with Sona.

“Someone had to stay with you.”

“I’m sorry,” she says, truly meaning it. Staying back with an invalid is for healers, the people who were called to that task. It's a punishment for Braves.

“You're my _sister_ , Vala. I requested to stay,” he clarifies, knowing the pity in her tone. “Plus, I can defend Mother’s Heart, if need be. This is where I am best used. Sona knows that.”

“Will she be back soon, do you think?” Vala kicks herself a little for the question. She’s always been a little too anxious for her mother’s approval and Varl always teases her for it.

“Been gone four days and we haven’t heard yet. Maybe, but I doubt she’ll come back before it’s done with.”

“Four days? I’ve been out for four days?” Vala feels her heart speed up, feels the pressure of it in her ears. Her chest starts to ache again.

“It was almost a full day between the explosion and when Sona left, and then four, four and half since then,” he says.

“Explosion?” Her head is spinning, her chest is burning, and she’s itching for fresh air to clear her mind and maybe make some sense of all the nonsense he’s saying. Vala moves to stand, to throw off the furs off the bed she’s tucked up in and run into the night until she finds Sona, gets some answers, and life goes back to normal.

Varl leans forward and puts his hands on both her shoulders. It’s a steadying thing, an old trick Sona always pulled out when they were younger and getting worked up about something. She’d force them to make eye contact, and take slow, deliberate breaths until their breathing matched hers. Varl does it expertly and it would feel patronizing if it wasn’t so effective. She doesn’t settle back into the bed like he probably wants, but she stops trying to get up.

“After the rest of the survivors got down safely, you and Aloy were still up there. The killers set off some kind explosion. All-Mother must have been protecting you both, because you were at the bottom of the mountain, alive.” Varl goes on to explain the massacre, then war party following after, the rebuilding, the mourning, everything that's been happening in Mother's Watch and Mother's Heart since the Proving. There's theories, of course, about who would do this and why, but no solid answers.

It's all a lot for Vala to process.

She spends the next day sitting on the edge of the bed, flexing her fingers and toes, then her legs and arms, and taking the food, drink, and herbs that Varl brings to her. A few of her ribs must be broken, but the strong salvebrush elixir helps dull the pain and speed the healing. One of her knees is still weak and feeble under a garish bruise and some residual swelling.

"I'm going outside," she tells him. He opens his mouth to protest, but Vala will have none of it. "Bring me a stick to lean on if you're so concerned, but I am going out." Instead, Varl hooks his arm around her and she uses him as a crutch to get outside. The wooden boards creak beneath them in the same old way, the cold wind blowing past them feels as it always did, but everything else feels wrong. Deeply wrong.

"How many dead?" she asks. She doesn't want to know, but she needs to know.

"Thirty. Most of the new Braves, the proctors, except Resh, two people who were at the bottom of the mountain at the time of the explosion. Ah, wait, no. Thirty-one. Aloy's… guardian was at the ambush."

"The outcast? Why was he there?"

"Watching Aloy in the Proving, I assume."

Much of what outcasts did and how they conducted themselves is a mystery to Vala, though she knows they're not meant to have contact with each other. The Matriarchs must have made an exception because Aloy was a child outcast and would have died without a guardian, but Vala doesn't know for sure.

Her leg is throbbing in pain after she's stood there for just a minute or so. Varl helps her back inside, though she sort of hates him for it. She feels like a bird trapped somewhere with her wings clipped when she needs to soar, injured and unable to fly.

* * *

Vala gets stronger over the next three days, strengthening her knee again, watching the bruises fade and clear on her skin, and watching with satisfaction as the scabbing across her ribs turns to shiny, pink skin, though it pulls uncomfortably tight when she moves. She still hurts, but she moves much better, without needing to lean on her brother anymore. Varl presents her with a solid stick to support herself.

That evening, a Brave comes limping into Mother's Heart, then two more carrying a third the next morning. Bloodied, bruised, looking as bad as Vala did when she woke up. The whispers start immediately. "Stay," Varl tells her, uselessly, as he leaves to find out more information. Vala trails along behind him, leaning on her stick and trying her best to ignore the cold air making her lungs itch.

"More than half?" Varl's asking one of the hunters as he slumps by a fire with his partners.

"Yes. Varl, you should have seen -- no, you're lucky you stayed behind. We couldn't have been prepared for that. Sona wasn't. None of us were. It was --"

"An ambush," Varl finishes for him.

"No, a demon!"

Vala sees his hand tighten on the grip of his spear. "And Sona?"

"She says she won't come back until our people are avenged. I've never seen her that... frantic."

Sona is never frantic. She's calculating and calm, she's solemn and terrifyingly angry, but she's never frantic. Vala's heart sinks to her stomach and keeps dropping, clear through the earth under her feet. Chaos has come to stay, and it seems as bad as the stories of the Red Raids.

Varl claps the man on the shoulder and turns away, back to their cabin, slowing his brisk pace so she can keep step with him.

"What's going to happen now?" Vala asks, not sure he'll have an answer.

"I'll go to the Matriarchs," he says. "They'll see reason and let me go to Sona. I'll take whoever's left. If she's still going after the killers, then I'll help her see it done."

" _We_ will see it done," Vala corrects him.

"Vala, you --"

"Shut up," she tells him, brandishing her walking stick like a club. "If you think for one second that after all this -- all this death and destruction, that I'm going to sit idly by and watch as my family, my tribe, marches off to fight without me, you were hit harder over the head than I was when I fell off the mountain."

"I only think --"

"Nothing. You think nothing. This vengeance is mine, Varl."

He says nothing more. In the cabin, they put on their armour and pick up their weapons in silence.

The trip to Mother's Watch is unbearably slow and Vala loathes every second of it. Every time she must slow to catch her breath, every hitch in her knee, every time Varl stops beside her to let her rearrange her grip on her walking stick and his arm, a little part of her inside unfurls and rages harder. She uses that fire to push herself forward.

Resh is atop the gates when they arrive and he tells them no one is coming or out of Mother's Watch until he's fully assessed the dangers, whatever that means.

"Resh, please." Vala easily recognizes the exasperation in Varl's voice as he tries to keep himself civil.

"Just because your mother used to be War Chief doesn't mean you'll get special treatment now, boy."

Varl's shoulders tighten immediately and his knuckles turn white on the grip of his spear.

Varl acts before she can raise her voice, cursing the air around them, and yes, threatening the 'new War Chief' with a variety of very un-Nora-like tortues if he does not let her, an injured Brave who nearly died fighting off murderers to protect her tribe, into the village to see the Matriarchs. She wasn't above framing herself as a martyr if it will shame Resh into letting them in.

Miraculously, the gate creaks open the smallest amount. Vala yanks it wide enough for them both to walk through. She doesn't even look back towards where anyone's standing when she marches up the path to All-Mother and where the Matriarchs will be holding counsel.

Vala's sure that leaning on her staff is not the best impression she can make while she's asking to form a new war party, but now she's exhausted, and still injured. There's no sense in trying to pretend otherwise.

There's commotion from the mouth on the tunnel when they get to the top of the path. Teersa and Lansra, talking over each other as usual, and Jezza flitting between them with a worried expression. Vala and Varl exchange glances, and she recognizes what she's feeling in his eyes as well. They need to go, to find Sona as soon as possible, but the notion of interrupting the High Matriarchs arguing is a horrifying one.

That horror flies out of her mind at once when she sees a flash of red from behind High Matriarch Teersa.

"Aloy?!" Vala shouts, drawing eyes from all sides.

Aloy steps out from behind the Matriarchs. She looks paler, and thinner than Vala remembers, though it's been just a week since the Proving. There are dark circles under her eyes and she winces when she turns too quickly. Aloy's faring about as well as she is, Vala guesses.

"Vala? You're all right?" It takes a moment for Aloy to move, but when she does, she grabs Vala by the shoulders and pulls her into a fierce hug.

"Something kin to right," Vala says.

"I have so much to tell you," Aloy tells her, then she frowns. "Except, there's no time. I have to leave."

"Leave where? Are you leading a war party? I need to come too. I have to." There's a moment of pure relief knowing Aloy's not only alive, but leading the charge for their people.

"Not a party, just myself. I'm going to Meridian."

"You can't go to Meridian," Varl says with a frown.

High Matriarch Teersa's face appears over Aloy's shoulder. "Aloy is a Seeker, Varl. She can go where need takes her."

"Seeker?" Vala repeats, astonished. Her relief is washed away in a wave of trepidation and questions, so many questions.

"Yes, _Seeker._ All-Mother spoke, asked Aloy to cure the corruption."

"I want Vala to come with me. I can -- I mean, I could go alone, but two of us would be better, wouldn't it? Safer, easier, and we'd be smarter together."

Jezza and Lansra appear on either side of Teersa. Lansra opens her mouth but it's High Matriarch Jezza, uncharacteristically, that speaks first. "Two Seekers. It's never been done. But that doesn't mean it can't be."

"Yes!" Teersa and Lansra say in chorus.

"It certainly can't be!" continues Lansra. 

"You're right, Jezza, there should be two. Two braves who fell, two who rose again. There were two cries in the night, two broken Watchers at the mouth of the river."

"Broken Watchers," Lansra says with a sneer. "Next you'll say there was an arrow that split the leaf of the wild ember before the dew had dried."

Jezza cried out and covered her mouth in astonishment. "Yes, Sister, yes, an arrow. I saw the split leaves on a wild ember with my own eyes. We must anoint a second Seeker, the signs are all in line."

And so the leaf of the wild ember settled the argument. There would be two Seekers, setting out for Meridian to seek their answers and perhaps, their vengeance.


	2. Chapter Two

Aloy is tense and bristling beside Vala when Resh starts hurling insults at her. She tries to soothe them both, though she'd much rather push Resh over the wall. The argument is about to go from bad to worse when the Demon, a horrible, corrupting machine, comes barreling through the gates with a herd of Striders.

Vala jumps down from the palisade and puts her spear through the back of a Strider. It feels amazing to watch it crumple and she's happy, grateful, and incredibly proud that she's still got a few of her old skills.

The Demon is an incredible enemy, and aptly named. It flattens everything around it, stamping a Brave into the ground even as Aloy finally brings it down. Resh stares, open mouthed, as Aloy strips parts out of the horrifying machine like it didn't just turn the walls into kindling.

"Let's see if we can find some striders on the way." Aloy says.

Vala wants to ask why, but she's still in awe. "Yes," she says instead.

* * *

Aloy leads the way from Mother's Watch, far too slowly. Vala wants to be annoyed, both with herself for slowing them down and for Aloy, for being slowed, but then she realizes that they're not headed for the gates. Aloy's leading them away from the path that will take them to Mother's Crown, to find someone who knows where Sona could be, and instead, is taking them towards the mountains.

"Aloy?" she says. Aloy said repeatedly as they left that this journey is a partnership and she knows she has every right to ask, but something about the set of Aloy's jaw makes her second guess.

"Just a quick errand," Aloy says. "Half a day at most. I'm sorry, I forgot to say. I'm not used to company."

"Right, of course. We don't have to move quite so slowly. I can keep up well enough."

"We'll need to move fast once we're out of the Embrace, and who knows for how long. We can afford to be a bit more comfortable here."

Vala says nothing and bites back her sigh, keeping pace with Aloy.

* * *

A house rises on the ridge ahead of them. No smoke rises from the roof and no footprints lead up to the door. No one has been here for some time.

There's a cairn marking a grave and Aloy kneels by it, hunching in on herself and it's then that Vala realizes what she must be looking at. The resting place of the outcast man who raised Aloy, presumably someone Aloy saw as a father, and the house they lived in together. Vala makes her way back down the hill to wait, as this moment is not for her.

Aloy joins her again a few minutes later, wiping tears and not being surreptitious about it.

"I'm sorry," she says, which Vala thinks is a stupid thing to say.

A little while later, back on the trail and far from the home that will stand empty for the foreseeable future, and will probably never feel like a home again, Vala tells her.

"That was stupid. Don't apologize to me for tears, or for feelings."

"Oh," Aloy says.

Prompted by the quaver in Aloy's voice, a wave of emotion grips Vala. It's sympathy, but it's also anger, that Aloy would even think to apologize, it's pain and heartache, it's a bloom of affection. She's got a lot of feelings about feelings, it turns out. "I was told all those things were weak. Tears and feelings and apologies, but that's stupid too. Just do whatever it is you're going to do and don't let other people tell you what those things mean. Be who you're going to be."

"I like that." Aloy even has a little smile when she looks over to Vala.

"Almost dying has made me wise," Vala tells her. She smiles too and it's surprising how easy it is.

* * *

It's dark when they reach Mother's Rise, and darker still when Aloy insists they set out again.

They make camp under a little overhanging rock about twenty minutes later. "I'm sorry," Aloy says. "I haven't gotten the hang of sleeping around so many other people yet."

"I'm not people?" Vala asks, chuckling.

Aloy blinks a few times, blushing after a moment of consideration for her words. She reaches over and brushes her fingertips over the back of Vala's hand by way of apology. "Sorry, I only meant… Yes, you're people. But you're not too many of them. You're just enough people."

"Oh... Thank you, Aloy. I think you're enough people too."

It's a funny little moment, just an offhand joke, but it warms Vala as much Aloy's back against hers when they fall asleep that night.

* * *

Heavy black smoke rises over the hill, marring the sunrise. There were bodies on the road they just passed, and very little equipment between them.

"Bandits," Vala says. They've heard some stories from some of the merchants they've met, but haven't seen any yet. Vala knew they'd run into someone eventually, she'd been hoping it would be later rather than sooner. They'd barely left the Embrace.

"One of us should scout ahead," Aloy says. Her brow creases in thought. "Just to see how many we may be up against."

"Next you're going to say it should be you, and your Focus." They've been on the road for just three days and Vala's heard about this damn Focus about a hundred times. It seems to be party to most of the the incredible mysteries that make up Aloy.

"Well?"

"Yes, fine, go. Ten minutes. Any longer and I'm coming to haul you back."

Aloy nods and disappears into the tall, red-tipped grass. She has a knack for stealth that Vala can't quite match, though she's noted aloud that Vala is improving.

If it is a bandit camp, they'll have to eliminate anyone there. Vala could never walk away knowing there's such danger lurking so close to her home without doing something. She suspects Aloy will agree, though maybe not for the exact same reasons.

Aloy is back before her ten minutes are up. "Bandits. I counted twelve, maybe fifteen. And they have prisoners."

Vala grimaces."We should do something."

"We will."

* * *

They tear through the bandit camp like twin furies, Aloy sneaks in the front gate, deactivates the alarm, and motions for Vala to follow in. Suddenly, it seems these bandits know they're not alone.

Vala goes high, up the ramparts, and starts sniping the ones she can see. It's messy and it's fast, and Vala loses track of Aloy the moment she starts firing arrows. She fells three bandits before one reaches her vantage point. 

The bandit's blade catches the edge of Vala's capped sleeve and nicks her skin, barely worse than a bee sting, but she sees red. Vala kicks him over the piked wall and there's a strangled cry when he lands somewhere far below. Her knee screams in protest, but she can bear a little weight on it.

Vala's able to fire off another three arrows and topple three more bandits. She wheels around to line up a shot at a fourth enemy when she realizes that there's an abundance of stillness around her. 

"Vala?"

"Aloy. Are you all right?"

"Fine." There's a tremor in Aloy's voice, the first time Vala's heard it since visiting Rost's grave. Vala's heart sinks past her gut, past the sudden surge of pain from pushing her still-healing knee too far too fast.

When they've had a chance to free the prisoners from their bindings and catch their breath, Vala turns to Aloy. There's a spot of blood on Aloy's cheek, but Vala can't tell it's origin.

Aloy grabs her in a hug before Vala can say anything. It's very fierce; Aloy's chin jarrs against the wound on Vala's shoulder. Vala sucks in a breath between her teeth.

"You're hurt?" Aloy asks, barely loosening her grip.

"Just barely. Just a scratch."

"Good," Aloy says, finally releasing her. Vala's thankful for the pressure off her shoulder, but she finds she doesn't want Aloy to stray too far. "When he hit you, I was worried."

"You saw that? Embarrassing."

"I also saw how many bandits you defeated, Vala. Not embarrassing. You kicked him over and my heart stopped for a second, I swear. How's your knee?"

Vala's heart does something odd itself. "I'm fine, Aloy, I promise. It'll be stiff for a few days, but I'm stronger than I was."

"I don't doubt that," Aloy says, gripping Vala's non-injured shoulder again. "I can see the strength in you. You're keeping us both going, Vala."

The warmth that spreads through her when Aloy says her name has nothing to do with the sun coming out from behind the clouds.

* * *

That night, when they camp near Mother's Crown, they tend to each other's wounds. Aloy dabs cool water on Vala's shoulder and follows it with crushed hintergold leaf. Vala shudders against the chill of it, but it starts to feel better soon after.

When Aloy strips out of her light armour and down to her breast band, Vala can see Aloy's got dark bruising on her ribs. Someone caught her in the side with a spear but didn't manage to cut through Teb the Stitcher's superior leatherworking. Vala will thank him if they ever make it back to the Sacred Lands after all this.

Among the dark blue and black of the bruises from their fight in the bandit camp, there's a lacework of mostly-healed scrapes and scratches, and the faded, mottled green-grey-purple of older bruises all across Aloy's chest, back, and sides.

The salvebrush paste Varl made and packed for Vala's knee works just as well on Aloy's bruises, old and new.

Aloy sighs and leans back on the tree trunk they're sitting by. "That's not bad. I can feel it tingling."

"Salvebrush is amazing," Vala agrees, rubbing a little more on her sore knee. They relax into a companionable silence.

There's been almost no down time since the moment she spotted Aloy, blazing and bright, at All-Mother Mountain. This drawn out quiet moment, even though both are nursing stinging wounds and aching bruises, is the one Vala will remember most vividly, if they survive and she lives to be old as her grandmother.

"We should sleep," Aloy suggests, blinking slowly, clearly already halfway there.

Vala agrees readily, also feeling the lull to dreams from the encroaching sounds of night. Aloy rises gracefully, stretching her arms up with a yawn. Vala tracks the entire motion with her eyes and pulling sensation inside. She has an inkling as to the true name of the feeling, but she tamps it down. There are so many other, more important things to think about and do.

When they stretch out in the tall, red grass Aloy doesn't set her back against Vala's like normal. Aloy rolls towards her and hooks her arm over Vala's waist.

"Is this all right?" she asks, after a long moment when Vala can hear her heartbeat thrumming and she imagines she can hear Aloy's too, keeping time perfectly.

"Yes," Vala says. Aloy relaxes almost instantly and Vala can't help the smile that spreads across her face.

"Sleep well." Vala hears the smile in Aloy's voice.

* * *

"The killers saw me through Olin's Focus, and that's why they attacked the Proving, I think. To get to me. We'll find Sona, figure out what she knows, and then we head for Meridian. Find Olin, figure out what he knows, and we'll know why they were after me." Aloy lays it out like it's as easy as tricking a Watcher. No nod to how difficult the terrain will be, how many unknown creatures and machines wait for them past the Sacred Lands, how many enemies besides even machines and bandits…

"These things are easier said than done," Vala says. Her head is spinning with things to keep track of. She's always been one of the plan for one thing at a time.

"That's the big picture," Aloy reminds her. "Just think of it like a staircase. Each single step leads us closer to the top. We'll find your mother first."

"Just call her Sona," Vala says. "I always have."

Aloy frowns, that little quirk of her mouth Vala's come to recognize as 'Aloy being uncomfortable expressing something'. She also has a little frown for concentrating, like stripping parts from a machine or skin from a kill, but that comes with an added eyebrow furrow.

"We'll go to the ambush site," Vala says, putting the conversation back to planning instead of her rather formal relationship with her mother.

"Okay, yes, I'll be able to track something from there. Hopefully."

"The Focus, right?" Vala still doesn't quite understand. She's afraid to ask to try it, though she knows she'd get it better if she did. Aloy's never offered either. She just nods and taps the thing by her ear.

The plan, paltry as it is, is set, and they head for the trail winding up the ridge.

Despite the heavy dew on the grass, the smell of blood still hangs in the air. There's crumpled parts and abandoned weapons. Vala's combing through the grass for some sign or trail when Aloy goes stock-still beside her, cocking her head. Vala holds her breath for a moment to hear what Aloy's hearing. She draws her bow quickly when she recognizes footsteps.

Aloy steps up to meet whoever is coming down the narrow path while she slinks off to the side, ready to spring out as backup, but when they speak, Vala recognizes that friendly voice in an instant.

"Dran!" She stows her bow as quick as she can and reaches for his hand. He clasps both of hers between his and grins. The wounds on his face crinkle and pull, but the smile reaches his eyes and Vala is reassured.

"Vala, my friend, you're… Aw, damn, it's good to see you."

"You're hurt."

"I'll live yet," Dran assures her. "What are you doing out here?"

Vala flashes her mark, ignoring how wide his eyes go. "We're looking for Sona. This is Aloy. Aloy, this is Dran. He's one of the best Braves the Nora have and a brilliant teacher. He trained me when Sona wasn't around."

"Oh please, Vala, don't tell lies about me," Dran says, smiling wider. They sit for a few moments, right there in the grass, as far away from the lingering smell of death as they can manage and still be in cover. He explains where he's come from and how Sona sent him back to the Embrace to report. "She's determined, that woman," he finishes.

Aloy's got a glint in her eye that means a plan, and to know that Sona is nearby and she and many of her Braves still live and still fight is enough to stoke Vala's fire.

Dran gives her a hug that grinds her bones and Vala's mostly just happy to know his strength remains. He'll make it back to the ruins of Mother's Watch and help Varl and the others rebuild, and with any luck, she'll return to see them again.

"Devil's Thirst and vengeance?" Aloy suggests, holding her hand out. Vala clasps it and grins. It sounds like the perfect plan.


	3. Chapter Three

They spot a broken, ripped apart Sawtooth on the edge of the cliffs.

"I'll check it out, and you watch my back. They don't always travel alone," Aloy says.

Vala chuckles. "Well, they'll be in trouble, because neither do we."

Aloy's answering smile is like the sun coming up. Vala wants to take the time to bask in it, but she's got to be on high alert because Aloy's already moving towards the downed machine.

Sure enough, a second Sawtooth comes stalking down the higher ridge. From her vantage point in the grass, Vala nocks a pair of arrows and lights them. Just as she lets them fly, the Sawtooth rockets sideways and careens across the grass. Vala's arrows, which should have caught it in the chest, catch it in a flailing leg instead. It's enough though; the thing screeches and stops moving.

Across the open field, Aloy's got her bow drawn and ready, nose scrunched in concentration and eyebrows furrowed in frustration. Sona is striding towards her with three men at her back. 

Vala's heart leaps in her chest, more than she thought it would, to see her mother again.

The signs of frustration disappear from Aloy's face, replaced by a small smile.

"A second more and that Sawtooth would have ripped you in half."

Vala steps out of the shadowed grass. "Half a second more and my arrows would have felled it."

Sona looks up, only surprised for a split second. "Hm. Maybe you're right." The highest praise, coming from Sona.

Vala reaches them and touches Aloy's shoulder to reassure, to centre, though she's not sure if it's herself or Aloy that needs it. Before she can say a word to Sona, a greeting, an 'I'm glad to see you,', a 'where have you been, did you even worry about me for a second before you ran off,' Sona grabs her in a crushing hug.

Vala's only just become used to this sort of thing from one woman in her life, and it's not Sona. It startles her as much as it warms her, and tears spilled past her eyes without any care for her telling them not to.

"Mother," she says even as her words run dry.

"Daughter. I… I thought we'd lost you."

"I'm tough." Vala's voice is tremulous whisper.

"My daughter." Sona's voice has the strength it always has, and Vala finds she can borrow some of it.

"You've both travelled far," Sona says, once she's released Vala and straightened up. There are no tears on her face, Vala sees, as she scrabbles to wipe her own, but Sona's eyes are wide and glassy. "I never thought I'd live to see a Seeker, let alone two, but the world is a strange place now. You will help me. Follow."

Sona turns on her heel and starts to jog away. Vala can't help but smile for the odd sense of comfort it brings. She looks to Aloy who's been watching, quiet and still.

"Sorry for all the mushy, emotional stuff," Vala says, half-joking.

"A wise, not-dead woman once told me not to apologize for emotions, but just to have them."

Vala laughs, swinging her bow up onto her shoulder. "Very wise indeed."

* * *

They follow Sona, and she fills them in on bits and pieces as they travel across the ridge. "The sin of the ancients lies buried in that soil. Corrupter demons."

"We know of them. I killed one at Mother's Watch," Aloy says.

Sona starts to scoff, but looks to Vala instead, who confirms.

"Bold. Let's see what you do next."

Vala's fascinated, being in the middle between Sona and Aloy. Sona wants to charge in, call her Braves down from the trees to tear through the camp, but Aloy spots barrels of blaze strewn around. Despite Sona's frown, Aloy and Vala sneak down to the encampment and set to work with triplines, fire bombs, and silently taking down a few corrupted Watchers.

"You," Aloy whispers, nudging Vala with her elbow. "Go."

Vala takes a few deep breaths, steadying herself before she lights the arrow. This is the big moment she's been dreaming of since she woke up in the cabin, with Varl hovering over her. This will be her vengeance.

She lets the flaming arrow fly and it hits a blaze barrel with a very satisfying thunk. Everything hangs silent and still.

A moment later, the explosion rocks the ground they stand on. It's only noise after that, men shouting, the horrible whirring-scream of the remaining handful of corrupted machines, and a chain reaction of explosions and bombs and blaze lighting and catching and burning. Vala doesn't remember much of the fight, just flashes of faces she recognizes, the arc of the arrows, the smoke and again, too familiar, the smell and the taste of blood.

In the ringing quiet after the battle, Vala sits on an upturned crate in the camp to massage her knee. Sona and Aloy talk nearby.

"This isn't all of them. I counted more at the War Party massacre."

Valasighs, deep and troubled. Seeking justice almost seems like more trouble than it's worth. She pushes that thought from her mind, thinking of the ones they lost instead, thinking of the ache in her knee. Someone comes up behind her, brushing against her as they pass.

"Aloy's right, War Chief, give your wounds time to close."

"What are you doing here? I ordered you to --"

"I know," Varl interrupts. "But my place is here, with you, with our family and our people's vengeance."

Vala seeks the pain in him as clearly as her own, and she certainly can't fault him for tracking them down. To be the only one left, even after those who were left behind have moved on? Unthinkable.

"I'll give you a few moments," Aloy says, edging away from the conversation. Vala's heard enough of Varl and Sona bickering and trading barbs to last her a lifetime, so she follows Aloy.

Aloy pores over every inch of the camp, treading slowly with her Focus engaged. "Ah, look!" she says, though there's nothing to see.

"A ring of metal. Does that sound familiar?"

"The ruins at Devil's Grief. That ground is taboo, cursed. The Matriarchs forbid anyone from going there."

They return to Varl and Sona, who seem to have settled their differences for the time being.

"Damn them," Sona says, hissing the words out. "I can return to the Matriarchs, ask them to make an exception."

"There's no time," Aloy says. Vala can see Aloy yearning to race to the next place, the next fight, the next thing that brings her closer to the answers she's after.

"Blood spilled calls for blood spilled!" Varl snaps. "If the ground is cursed, let our vengeance sanctify it!"

"Well…" says Sona, with a long pause. "But with two Seekers… maybe this blessing will protect us. I'll send scouts ahead to meet us on the cliffs above Red Echoes."

"Good," Aloy says, visibly relaxing. "We'll meet you there."

"Travel safe." Sona takes a moment to squeeze Vala's arm to punctuate her command.

"We will."

* * *

"It's getting late. I don't think we should go on much further until dawn," Aloy says.

Vala slows down. "I thought we didn't have time to waste?"

"Vala, I…"

She stops and stops Aloy, too. "Speak, Aloy."

Aloy sighs. "I'm scared, Vala."

Not what Vala was expecting. "All right. Well... We can work past that."

Aloy folds herself into Vala's arms, which was a little more expected. Vala runs her hands down Aloy's back and murmurs her attempts at comfort into Aloy's hair.

"I just found you," Aloy says, muffled. "I can't lose you too."

"You won't. I've survived this long, and now we have Varl and Sona. None of you will let anything happen to me again."

Aloy huffs out a little laugh. "Good. All right. I'm better now." She pulls back and then must think better of it.

Vala's about to ask what else is wrong when Aloy kisses her. It's a small, chaste thing, but it's so natural. Vala doesn't realize until they've separated that the kiss is responsible for shattering her whole world. She'll cross all of Carja territory and beyond for Aloy -- not that she wouldn't have before, but now she _knows_ it.

"Let's go; Sona's likely to get antsy if we take too long," Vala says, speaking from experience.

But, it turns out, they have time for one more kiss.


End file.
